Same Job, Different Legal System
If you’re used to TREC files, your first Louisiana file will feel familiar for about ten minutes. Then you hit the 72-hour clocks, the redhibition box and an Act of Sale in front of a notary, and you remember Louisiana runs on civil law.
The good news: Louisiana is a promulgated-form state, like Texas. Every licensee uses the same Louisiana Real Estate Commission (LREC) agreement, so once you know the form, you know every file. This guide is for agents writing Louisiana contracts and TCs tracking them. It’s written from the 2026 LREC Residential Agreement to Buy or Sell and Property Disclosure Document, both mandatory since January 1, 2026.
Not legal advice. Practical guidance from people who manage these files every day.
The Form Is the Form
Louisiana law requires licensees to use the purchase agreement the LREC prescribes for 1 to 4 unit residential property, and it says plainly: no one alters the form (La. R.S. 37:1449.1). Changes go in addenda, amendments or the Additional Terms lines, and where they conflict, what’s filled in beats what’s printed.
For agents: if you’re used to negotiating by editing a contract, stop. Put it in an addendum. The LREC also publishes optional addenda (condo, deposit, inspection response, new construction, private sewerage and water well) worth knowing.
For TCs: the LREC reissues the form as a dated set. Check the footer: the 2026 version says “Rev. 01/2026.” The old version can’t be used after the cutover.
The Deadlines That Matter
Calendar days end at 11:59 p.m. Central, and time is of the essence. But several steps run on 72-hour clocks, and that’s where files go sideways.
| Item | Rule (2026 agreement) |
|---|---|
| Deposit | Due within 72 hours of notice of acceptance (or “No Deposit” is checked) |
| Proof of loan application (financed) | Within the days filled in; if it’s late, the seller may terminate |
| Proof of funds (cash) | Within the days filled in; if it’s missing, the seller may terminate |
| Due diligence and inspection (DDI) period | The days filled in, starting the day after acceptance |
| Seller’s response to the buyer’s request | 72 hours |
| Buyer’s answer to the seller’s response | 72 hours |
| Leases | Seller delivers within 5 days; buyer approves within 5 days |
| Final walk-through | Within 5 days before the Act of Sale |
The Inspection Sequence (Read This Twice)
This is the part Texas agents get wrong. There’s no option fee. There’s a Due Diligence and Inspection Period, and it chains into 72-hour steps:
- During the DDI period the buyer can terminate (deposit returned) or send one “single, signed, and complete” written repair request. Sending the request ends the period early.
- Buyer silence when the period ends means the buyer accepts the property’s condition.
- The seller has 72 hours to respond to the request.
- The buyer then has 72 hours to accept the response, take the property as-is, or terminate.
- Buyer silence at that point voids the contract, and the deposit is returned.
Read step 5 again. In Texas, a buyer who does nothing after the option period ends just keeps going. In Louisiana, a buyer who does nothing after a seller refuses repairs loses the deal.
For TCs: these clocks run in hours. Write down the exact time each notice was received.
The Deposit and Disputes
The deposit usually sits in a broker’s escrow account. LREC rules put it in the listing or managing broker’s account unless everyone agrees otherwise in writing.
Disputes work differently from Texas, too. Under LREC rules, the broker sends written notice to everyone, then has 60 days from the scheduled closing or knowledge of the dispute (whichever comes first) to do one of five things: disburse with everyone’s written consent, disburse on a reasonable interpretation of the contract after 10 days’ written notice, deposit the money with the court (a concursus proceeding), follow a court order, or turn it over as unclaimed property.
Who’s entitled to a disputed deposit is a legal question. That belongs with an attorney, not your TC or a blog post.
Appraisal and Financing
If the contract is conditioned on appraisal and the appraisal comes in low, the buyer sends the appraisal and a reduction request within the days filled in. After that, within a second set of days, the buyer either pays full price or the contract is void, unless the seller reduces the price or the parties agree on a new one. Two windows, two dates on the calendar.
On financing, the trigger is proof of loan application within the days filled in, plus written authorization for the lender to proceed. Miss it and the seller can terminate. There’s no separate loan-approval deadline field, so stay on the lender.
The Property Disclosure and Redhibition
The seller’s Property Disclosure Document should be delivered no later than when the buyer makes the offer. If it comes later, the buyer gets 72 hours to terminate, counted without weekends or holidays, and the deposit comes back. The 2026 form starts with an exemption checklist, covers flood history and flood insurance in detail, and even an exempt seller signs whether they know of defects.
Then there’s redhibition, Louisiana’s implied warranty against hidden defects. The agreement makes you choose:
- Full warranties, including redhibition;
- “As is,” with the buyer waiving redhibition, which has to be carried into the Act of Sale; or
- New construction, governed by the New Home Warranty Act.
For TCs: if the box is “as is,” confirm the closing agent puts the waiver in the Act of Sale.
The Act of Sale
The sale closes as an Act of Sale before a settlement agent or notary chosen by the buyer, and it’s recorded in the parish where the property sits (parishes, not counties). Title insurance has to rest on a title examination and written opinion by a Louisiana-licensed attorney. The buyer brings good funds; personal and commercial checks are capped at $2,500 per closing.
The seller pays for the tax, mortgage and conveyance certificates; current-year taxes are prorated through the Act of Sale. Also watch the mineral rights reservation, and the buyer’s broker compensation line, which defaults to $0 on the 2026 form if it’s left blank.
The TC’s Louisiana Checklist
- At intake: confirm the 2026 form, read every filled-in blank and calendar each date, plus the 72-hour steps.
- Within 72 hours of acceptance: confirm the deposit landed with the named holder.
- Track proof of funds or proof of loan application by its deadline.
- During the DDI period: log when the buyer’s request goes out, then the seller’s response, then the buyer’s answer, by the hour.
- Check the disclosure date against the offer date.
- Confirm the redhibition choice and, if “as is,” that it’s in the Act of Sale.
- Calendar the appraisal windows if the contract is conditioned on appraisal.
- Coordinate the Act of Sale with the buyer’s chosen settlement agent or notary, and schedule the walk-through inside the last 5 days.
The Bottom Line
Louisiana isn’t harder than Texas. It’s different in specific, predictable places: the hour-based clocks, the inspection sequence that ends the deal if the buyer goes quiet, the redhibition box, and a closing that’s a civil-law act in front of a notary. Learn those, and the mandatory form does the rest.
Agents: we coordinate Louisiana files from accepted offer to Act of Sale. See our Louisiana TC services.
TCs: our TC Training Course covers the contract-to-close workflow that every state’s forms plug into.
